


Picking Up The Remaining Pieces

by Pokeheart909



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, F/M, Implied/Referenced Car Accident, Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt, May Add Kent Later, Music, People Mistake Her Age A Lot, Rating May Change, Relationships Will Be Added On Further Into The Story, Short Female Protagonist, Somewhat Songfic, Songfic, Suicidal Thoughts, mentions of lung cancer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2020-01-25 17:12:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18578923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokeheart909/pseuds/Pokeheart909
Summary: When people go through major life events, life events that can damage a person mentally or physically, they try to find a way to help them cope. Shane Daniels finds his method through alcohol. Kaitlyn McCarthy, the new farmer in Pelican town, finds her way through music, from singing to it, to dancing to it, to playing it. When Kaitlyn tries to befriend all of the townsfolk, a particular person doesn't seem to want to budge. But two can play at the stubborn game, and two can also help pick up the remaining pieces.





	1. Greetings Pelican Town!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for clicking or tapping onto this Stardew Valley fanfiction! What I meant by somewhat songfic is that there will be songs sung, hummed, or referenced in some of the chapters. I do not own Stardew Valley or any of the songs, but I do hope you enjoy this fanfiction!

Kaitlyn waters the last of the parsnip seeds that Mayor Lewis had given her to start off with. She looks around at the mess of the old farm that she used to visit from time to time, when she was very young. "Wish I could remember what it used to look like... Definitely not this shitty though. Grandpa would have a meltdown at this." Kaitlyn chuckles at the nostalgia of her remembering when her grandfather used to visit her home and always tidy up even the smallest of messes. She takes her scythe and clears more of the area around her parsnip seeds. Afterwards, she looks in the direction of the town. She never used to interact with people much, mainly because whenever she did they would try to avoid her as much as humanly possible. But... She wanted to have friends, to have buddies to talk to and hang around and have fun with. But not many people gave her a chance... Still didn't stop her from trying though. "Time to socialize!"

She runs off to the town and takes in the views as she goes. Many colors, so many colors! Rainbows upon rainbows upon rainbows of colors! When did Kaitlyn last see these many colors? Not for a long time, she missed them deeply though. With them she felt alive. The reds, blues, greens, yellows, pinks, purples, all of them brightly and brilliantly placed in nature. She runs, she skips, she dances freely up until she can see the town. She slows down to a stroll as she walks through the town and looks around for people. She finds two buildings directly next to each other. One with a red plus, and another with a sign that says "Pierre's". Kaitlyn decides to enter the building with the sign. She opens the door and finds several people inside. A man in a blue polo shirt, a woman with a green dress and a braid, a woman with a long sleeved purple shirt, a man with a big, bushy mustache, and a man behind the register with glasses with brown hair. She walks up to the register and the man sees her approaching. "Ah! You must be the new farmer! Welcome to Pierre's! I'm Pierre. How may I help you?"

Before Kaitlyn could utter a word the door opens once more and an 'ahem' is heard throughout the store. Everyone's eyes turn to a man with black hair in a black suit with a red bowtie stands in the middle of the store. He smiles and holds up a painfully bright and familiar shade of blue stacks of paper. "Come and get it folks... coupons for 50% off your purchase at JojaMart!"

Kaitlyn's eyes widen. She mutters to herself. "There's a JojaMart here...?" After working at Joja for so long, she learned to hate them and their corporation. It's a soul-sucking corporation she never wants to be a part of again. Pierre then yells out in surprise. "50 Percent!?!?" The red bowtie man then starts waving the coupons. "Well? Any takers?" Everyone inside the shop except for Pierre and Kaitlyn walk up to the Joja man and take coupons as they leave the store. Pierre looks down and quietly speaks. "But I can't match those prices! I'd be selling at a loss!"

Morris walks right up to the register, next to Kaitlyn. He smirks as he speaks to Pierre, "It must be so difficult for you... To lose your loyal customers like that. But can you blame them? Joja Corporation is clearly the surperior choice. Soon the whole town will realize that."

Morris begins to laugh to himself and starts walking away. Kaitlyn yells out across the store before Morris can reach the door. "I won't." Morris stops and turns around to the short farmer girl. "And why is that?" The girl takes a step forward to him slowly, "Because it's not true. Literally anywhere else is better than Joja. You won't be able to change my mind." Morris chuckles and smirks. "Sure, farmer girl, sure." Kaitlyn glares at the man. "It's Ms. McCarthy to you." Morris shakes his head and leaves Pierre's. Kaitlyn sighs. "So who's the Joja brainwasher?"

Pierre looks at the girl with shock. "That was Morris, he's the manager at the JojaMart in town." Kaitlyn looks back at the door. "Well he's certainly a real piece of work. Anyways, I should introduce myself. My name's Kaitlyn McCarthy, and as you guessed, I'm the new farmer. Although, I'm brand new to farming so I don't know too much about it. But I came in here to see what exactly this was. Do you mind telling me what it is you sell here?"

Pierre smiles at the girl. "Of course! I sell seeds, fruit trees, grass starters, fertilizers, retaining soils, sugar, wheat flour, oil, vinegar, wallpapers, floorings, wallpaper and flooring catalogues, and backpacks currently, but I am planning on selling bouquets soon." Kaitlyn nods and looks around to see the prices for some of the seeds. "I think I'll save up some more and come back on a different day. But it was nice meeting you Pierre!" Kaitlyn walks off to the door. "Pleasure to meet you too Kaitlyn! Please come again!" "I will!"

Kaitlyn walks around and sees a young man with a gridball jacket playing with, you guessed it, a gridball. Kaitlyn decides to meet the young man. "Hi!" The young man stops throwing his gridball and walks up to the short cream-skinned girl. "Hey, you're the new girl, huh? I think we're gonna get along great. I'm Alex." Kaitlyn smiles at the man. "Nice to meet you Alex, my name's Kaitlyn." Alex starts heading to the house behind him's door. "Well, I'm gonna go lift weights. See ya around Kaitlyn." He waves bye to the short, brunette bob girl. "See ya Alex!"

Kaitlyn continues to adventure Pelican Town to find more people to talk to, but is struggling to find anyone. She decides to look at the scenery around the town and the sky while she walks. She smiles to herself as she sees a cloud in the shape of a cat takes view. Right after that however, she bumps into a swing on the playground and tumbles down to the ground and hits her head on a rock. Thankfully, the rock wasn't sharp, but it was still pretty hard. "Ow!" A high-pitched voice squeaks out. "A-Are you ok?"

While rubbing her hand where the rock hit her forehead, she glances up to see a small girl and a small boy looking at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to pay attention to where I'm going is all..." She checks to make sure she isn't bleeding, which she isn't, before kneeling down to the kids' height. "So what are your names? I'm pretty new in town so I don't know everyone just yet." She laughs nervously a bit before the boy with the striped shirt spoke up. "I'm Vincent! Momma says not to talk to strangers... But you seem okay." I turn to the little girl and she fidgets with her hands and looks up at me and back down at her hands. She then finally stares at me. "...I'm Jas..." She smiles and Vincent speaks up again. "Jas is shy around strangers. But what's your name? Why'd you come to Pelican Town?"

Kaitlyn smiles at the two children. "My name's Kaitlyn. I'm the new farmer at McCarthy Farm here." Vincent and Jas's eyes light up like fireworks. "Really!?" Kaitlyn giggles a bit. "Yeah really. Although, I'm kind of new to the whole farming thing..." She smiles once more at the two children. "It's nice meeting you Jas, you too Vincent. You two go have fun and be safe, okay?" "Okay! Bye Ms. Kaitlyn!" The two kids go to play on the playground as Kaitlyn walks off and back towards the town. She starts taking the path towards the beach when she hears someone shout. "Watch out!"

Kaitlyn sees a blonde, young man come down the street fast with a skateboard. She moves out of the way quickly as the young man manages to do a kickflip and land on his ass as his skate board hits a trash can of a house, and knocks it over. A lady with strawberry blonde hair comes out of the house with the knocked over trash can, sees it, and then turns to the young man. "Sam, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful with your skateboard?" The young man sighs and goes to the trash can to clean up the mess. "A lot. Sorry mom." The lady sighs as well and looks her son, Sam, in the eyes. "Just please be more careful, alright." Sam nods and finishes cleaning up his mess, and the lady goes back inside. The young man then breathes in before shouting. "I did a kickflip! Finally!" He cheers, whoops, and hollers, and an old man in a wheelchair yells from across town. "Will you be quiet Sam!? I'm trying to watch my favorite program!" Sam chuckles nervously. "Sorry Mr. Mullner!" The old man, Mr. Mullner, grumbles something in the distance before going into the house that Alex went into earlier. Sam then turns to Kaitlyn as she looks at him confused initially, but then shakes the thought off. "So your name's Sam, huh?" He smiles at her widely. "Yeah, my name's Sam. What's yours?" Kaitlyn replies, "I'm Kaitlyn, it's nice to meet you Sam." "Nice to meet ya too Kaitlyn." He starts sprinting off towards the mountain. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to rub it in to Sebastian that I can do a kickflip! Woo!"

Sam gets out of sight and Kaitlyn shrugs it off as she starts heading towards the beach again, but her stomach growls. "...Crap. I'm hungry." Kaitlyn is unfortunate enough that her house does not have a kitchen. But she did buy three large boxes of protein bars before coming to Stardew Valley. "Well, I guess I'll just have one of those protein bars for lunch." But as soon as she turned around to head home, the woman with the green dress she saw in Pierre's was in front of her. The woman wagged her finger as if to say 'no'. "No sweetheart. I can't let you do that. You should have an actual meal. C'mon with me to my ranch, I was just about to get Jas and make lunch there anyways." The woman reaches out her hand for a handshake and I shake it. "Thank you, umm?" "I'm Marnie. It's nice to meet you sweetheart." We start walking. "Nice to meet you too Marnie. I'm Kaitlyn." Marnie laughs a little bit. "I know sweetheart, you probably don't remember, but when you were younger and you visited the farm, I'd see you run around and playing with all the animals whenever I stopped by. Your grandfather, father, and I had so many laughs about it." Kaitlyn gets a bit quiet suddenly, but then picks back up on the talking. "I wouldn't doubt it, I love animals and it makes sense for me to just run around everywhere and play with them." Marnie and Kaitlyn laugh until they find Jas playing with Vincent on the playground still.

Marnie calls out to her. "Jas, sweetie, we're gonna have lunch at home!" Jas starts running over to Marnie as she laughs and says her goodbyes to Vincent. "Okay Aunt Marnie! Bye Vincent!" "Bye Jas!" The strawberry blonde boy waves his hand for goodbye to Jas. Once Jas makes it to Marnie and Kaitlyn, and sees Kaitlyn, she hides behind Marnie while still looking at Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn kneels down to her height. "Hi Jas." The small girl squeaks. "H-Hi Kaitlyn..." Marnie smiles at Jas and Kaitlyn. "You two already met?" The little girl and the little woman both nod. The eldest of the three begins to talk. "That's good. Jas, Kaitlyn will be joining us for lunch today, doesn't that sound nice?" The little princess of a girl nods her head as she looks up at the two adults. Marnie flashes a big smile. "Well, let's go you two! Off to the ranch!" While on the way to the ranch, Marnie and Jas talk about what Jas did so far today, and Kaitlyn can't help but smile. The two seemed to be joyful at the simplest things, the rest of the town that she met seemed to as well. Kaitlyn turns her head towards the sky as they strolled along down to Marnie's ranch. Kaitlyn thinks to herself, " _Maybe things can be that simple for myself one day. That day is definitely not that day though._ " 

They reach the ranch and all Kaitlyn has to say is, "It's tall. _Really_ tall." Marnie laughs a bit, "Yeah, the structure is pretty big, it was pretty overwhelming when I saw it for the first time too. But don't worry about it, Kaitlyn, okay?" Kaitlyn takes a gulp. "Alright." The three go inside the ranch, and Kaitlyn feels an amazingly comforting feeling. The same feeling she feels at her farmhouse, as if it was home. Marnie heads to the kitchen with her groceries and Kaitlyn follows with Jas. "Marnie, do you want me to help you? I feel obligated to, since you wanted to make me lunch..." Marnie shakes her head. "I appreciate it Kaitlyn, but I won't need help. But why don't you go and play with Jas, I know she loves to play with her dolls, but usually the only one who does is my nephew, her godfather, and right now he's at his job." Kaitlyn nods and turns to see Jas. "Is it alright if I play with you Jas?"

The young girl nods and she takes Kaitlyn through the entrance and a room filled with hay and a fireplace, into a room that is almost completely purple and pink. Jas takes the brunette to a little doll house filled with dolls, most looking like hand-me-downs, and sits down. She pats the floor across from her for Kaitlyn to sit down, and once she does, she hands the woman a doll of a girl in a floral blouse and a plain black skirt. The doll Jas holds is a girl in a pink dress. "Let's play 'Shopping Trip'! Uncle Shane and I play that one a lot!" Kaitlyn smiles lightly at the girl. "Sure. That sounds fun." Jas holds out her doll and speaks as if she was trying to imitate a teenage girl. "Hey girl! I have a date with Aaron tonight, but I have nothing good to wear!" Kaitlyn laughs a little at Jas's voice. She proceeds to do a similar, but different voice. "Then let's go shopping girl! I wanted to get some new shoes I saw that were _super_ cute at the mall the other day! We could get you a new, cute outfit, and I could get those shoes!" Jas giggles again and they continue to play 'Shopping Trip', talking about pretend cute guys and pretend cute clothes, when after a while Marnie calls out to the two of them. "Jas! Kaitlyn! Lunch is ready!"

Jas puts down her doll as she rushes out to get lunch while Kaitlyn puts the dolls back right where the two found them. Marnie waits outside of the room smiling at Kaitlyn. "Thank you so much Kaitlyn. Jas only has one person her age around here, Vincent, and besides him, the only person who is both able and willing to play with her is Shane. She seemed to really enjoy playing with you." Kaitlyn smiles back at the woman and giggles a bit. "It's not a problem Marnie, I used to watch over a younger cousin of mine a few times before I moved here. I'm just glad that Jas is happy." Marnie laughs a bit. "Me too." The three have a delicious farmer's lunch and once the lunch is over, Kaitlyn insists on helping Marnie wash dishes. As they wash the dishes Marnie and Kaitlyn converse about what Marnie does exactly, "Well I sell animal feed, and sell animals. I mainly have chickens and cows so far. Just come to me if you need anything animal related, alright dear?" Kaitlyn smiles. "Alright. I'll have to think about that investment once I make enough money for it." Once the dishes are all clean, Kaitlyn takes her leave, but before she does, Jas hugs onto her leg. "Thank you for playing with me! Could I play with you some more Ms. Kaitlyn?" Kaitlyn's heart melts at Jas once those words left her mouth. "Of course, Jas. Of course."

Kaitlyn hugs Jas and Marnie goodbye and walks back into town. She checks her phone for the time to see it's 4:15 in the afternoon. She decides to walk through the town some more as the sun dips down. Once nightfall hits, Kaitlyn starts to head back to the farmhouse, but then she hears music that makes her feel light and happy. She finds a light on outside a building called 'The Stardrop Saloon'. _There's a bar here? I don't really remember that. Might as well check it out._ Kaitlyn opens the door and in the main room, only sees five people. _Understandable for a Monday night._ One of them is the man with a big bushy mustache she saw this morning at Pierre's, he's behind the counter. Another is a man with a beard, and what looks like a black apron. There's a woman with a ton of gaudy make-up on drinking like there's no tomorrow, and a woman with bright blue hair and a bright red shirt who's working the bar. Then there's a man with a five-o-clock shadow in the back staring down at his beer. He had dark purple hair, that almost looked black which was probably his original hair color. That man and the woman with the gaudy make-up were the only two who didn't have their eyes immediately on Kaitlyn when she walked into the bar. The man with the big mustache grins at the little woman and his voice booms across the bar. "Ah! You must be the new farmer in town! Welcome to the Stardrop Saloon! I'm Gus, what can I get you?" Kaitlyn walks further into the bar and looks at the menu. "I'll have some spaghetti please." Gus's smile goes all the way to his eyes as they crinkle. "Alright, one spaghetti coming up. Gus goes to the back as the woman with the bright blue hair goes up to her with a smile that's brighter than her hair. "Hi! I'm Emily! What's your name?" The tinier woman answers, "I'm Kaitlyn, it's nice to meet you Emily." "Nice to meet you too Kaitlyn! Can I get you anything to drink?" Kaitlyn looks at the beverage menu and is limited to one option. "I'll just have a water please." Emily winks at the new farmer girl. "Got it! Coming right up!"

The man with the five-o-clock shadow seems to down the beer he's been staring at for a while in one go before setting it down on the table. As soon as Emily put down Kaitlyn's water she looked at the man expectantly and he gave her a thumbs up, even though he was frowning. The woman snatched up the mug, filled it back up again, and placed it down on the table within thirty seconds. The man's voice grumbled, "Thanks." Emily flashes him a smile. "No problem. Rough day again?" The man only nodded in response. Kaitlyn just stares at the wall full of bottles and sips on her water as that exchange went on. Once it was over though, Emily, figuratively, pounced on her like an excited puppy. "Do you know anyone in the bar?" Kaitlyn stammers nervously. "U-Uh... N-No, I don't..." Emily smirks at her. "Want me to tell you who's who?" Kaitlyn glances around and shrugs. "If you want to...?" Emily flashes a wicked grin. _Oh Yoba, what bomb did I just set off?_ "I was hoping you'd say that."  Emily first points to the women with the gaudy make-up. "That's Pam! She's Penny's mom! Pam this is Kaitlyn! The new farmer!" The woman hiccups before responding, "Hi. Let me know whenever you start growing hops." Kaitlyn chuckles nervously, unsure what exactly hops are. "O-Ok... Nice to meet you Pam." "Nice to *hic* meet ya too." Emily then points to the man with the beard and black apron. "That's Clint! He's the blacksmith! He's really cool! Hi Clint!" The man's cheeks turn a little pink. "Um... Hi Emily, and farm girl. If you ever need to upgrade your tools just come to me." The brunette nods her head. "Thank you for letting me know. Nice to meet you Clint." "Nice to meet you too Kaitlyn." Emily leashes out all her excitement on the last point, towards the man with the five-o-clock shadow who now has an annoyed expression on his face. "Our final person to introduce to you tonight is Shane! He works at the-" "Emily I am not in the mood right now." The man, now revealed to be Shane, Marnie's nephew and Jas's godfather, gave Emily a glare and she instantly stopped. Now she has a pout on her face. "Sorry Shane, I just wanted to introduce Kaitlyn to some of the townsfolk." Shane grumbles. "Yeah, well, I don't want to talk to anyone _or_ be introduced to anyone."

Kaitlyn stares at Shane for a moment before speaking. "So your Jas's godfather?" Shane's eyes widen before he narrows them down at the small, brand new farm girl. "How do you know about that?" Kaitlyn didn't want to show her light trembling of fear at Shane's intimidation. "I met Jas and Marnie earlier today. Jas said you were nice." Shane scoffs. "Yeah, and she's wrong." Kaitlyn shakes her head. "I don't think so. I think you're just trying to push me away because you don't want to talk to anyone right now." Shane stays quiet for a little bit. He then mumbles. "Smart kid." He downs the last of his beer before setting the mug and money down and leaving the saloon. Gus hands her the plate of spaghetti and some silverware. "Enjoy your meal!" Kaitlyn eats her spaghetti quickly and says her goodbyes to the saloon before leaving. She takes out her headphones and plugs them into her phone as she starts to listen and quietly sing "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" as she heads home. As she's walking and singing, she thinks to herself. _I'm gonna be friends with everyone in Pelican Town, even Shane. Especially Shane._


	2. A Rainy Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane begins his normal trek to work on a rainy Wednesday without an umbrella. On his way, he comes across a pouting Kaitlyn in front of Pierre's. He initially tries to just ignore her, but life doesn't seem to want to go by Shane's logic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're onto chapter two! Hooray! I'm glad you stuck around! I won't have a particular schedule when it comes to uploading these chapters, but I will say that I'll be a lot more available starting the last day of May. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Shane trudges through the mud and rain to get to his shitty job at JojaMart. He finally reaches the cobblestone of town and he's already soaked to the bone thanks to the rain. Now each time a raindrop hits the cobble or himself, Shane's head pings in pain. Shane is usually hungover before and during work normally, but he's more upset about the fact that the farmer girl last night seemed dead set on trying to get him to talk with her. Not to mention, as soon as he woke up the previous morning, Jas could not shut up about the farmer girl, Kaitlyn as he heard Jas, Emily, and Marnie call her. While Shane is sick and tired of the conversations either about or with farmer girl, he couldn't help but smile at the fact that the farmer wanted to play dolls with Jas. But then the usual self-loathing thoughts came in.  _Yeah, she knows how to make Jas laugh better than you do. You're her godfather for fucks sake! A person who barely knows Jas is already making her feel happier than you ever-_. 

Right then, the self-loathing thoughts stopped as he sees the petite farmer girl holding an umbrella, pouting in front of Pierre's shop. For a moment, Shane wonders why she's doing this when it hits him. "Right, Pierre's isn't open on Wednesdays..." While he did mumble it and continued to walk on his way, he was paused by the farmer girl. The short as fuck farm girl who is on the tip of her toes, holding out an umbrella over him. Shane looks at her in agitation. "What are you doing?" The girl struggles to keep the umbrella up as she replies, "You're soaked and you'll get soaked more if you don't have an umbrella. You'll get sick!" Shane growls at Kaitlyn. "I don't want your help." Kaitlyn, surprisingly, kept her ground. "Maybe you don't want it, but you need it." After a glaring contest between the two, Shane realizes he's going to be late at this rate. He sighs in defeat. "Fine." Kaitlyn smiles widely, as though she were four instead of twenty-four. "Yay! Alright I'll follow you Shane." Instead of just handing Shane the umbrella, Kaitlyn decides to tip toe with Shane so that she covers him with the umbrella. Kaitlyn tip toes with Shane's pace and she sees the JojaMart in view. With no other buildings nearby. "You work at the JojaMart?" Shane turns to face her. "What, did you expect I work at a fancy restaurant or work as a secretary in a hospital?" Kaitlyn shakes her head. "No, that's not what I was getting at. I was wondering, do you like working at Joja?" Shane becomes stunned for a moment before answering. "It doesn't matter, it makes ends meet." He rushes over to the building, making Kaitlyn have to hop to make sure he doesn't get wetter. Once they're in the safety of the cover, Shane mutters, "Thanks..." Kaitlyn smiles at him, not one of those smiles that Emily practically forces on her face around Shane. But a smile that felt real, the realest one he felt from someone other than Jas in a long time. "Anytime Shane, have a good day at work!" For once, when the new girl was talking to him he laughed, although she had walked away at that point. _A good day? With Joja? It would be a miracle._ Shane gets dressed for work and starts stocking the shelves of the JojaMart.

* * *

Shane is filled with relief once his day of work ended. Now he could go to the saloon, think more about his shitty life and his shitty self instead of worrying about Morris or Kaitlyn. Shane leaves the JojaMart and is confronted again. _Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me._ In front of him stands a certain little farm girl, holding an umbrella at the ready. She looks up at him expectantly, "How did work go?" Shane grunts. "Bad then?" Shane nods and Kaitlyn frowns. "That makes sense. Joja's catchphrase may be 'Join us. Thrive.' But it's more like 'Join us. Die.'" Shane starts to laugh and puts on a lopsided smile for a moment before catching himself. Kaitlyn eyes sparkle, with her smile, at Shane. "You laughed! You smiled!" Shane glares down at her. "No I didn't." Kaitlyn smiles cheekily now. "Yes you did." "No I didn't." "You did." "I didn't." "Did!" "Didn't!" "Did!" "Did! Not!" Kaitlyn shakes her head. "Ok, Mr. Grumpy. I won't let anyone know you showed a moment of happiness, unless you _do_ want to admit you laughed or smiled." Shane shakes his head and starts heading towards the saloon when Kaitlyn tip toes and follows him, making sure he doesn't get wet again. Shane grumbles. "Why are you still doing this?" Kaitlyn smirks at him. "I'm doing this because I don't want you to get sick." Shane shakes his head. "Why do you even care? You don't know me, and I don't know you." Kaitlyn glances towards Shane. "You're right. I don't know you, and you don't know me. But I want to get to know you, and you can get to know me." Kaitlyn giggles and Shane can compare her laughter to bells.

Shane just shakes his head again and they finally reach the saloon. Shane opens the door as Kaitlyn closes her umbrella, and follows him inside before he could shut the door on her. Shane sighs and goes to sit at his small table in the corner of the bar. Emily immediately gets him a beer and whispers in his ear. "Are you spending time with Kaitlyn finally?" Shane shakes his head. "She's trying." Kaitlyn sits across from Shane and turns to Emily. "I'd like a beer as well please." _Shane looks at Kaitlyn in confusion. She can't be serious... Can she?_ Emily looks at Kaitlyn. "I'm going to have to card you, you know." Kaitlyn hands Emily her driver's license and Shane smirks in his mug of beer. _There's no way she can drink alcohol, what is she, eighteen, nineteen?_ Emily looks at Kaitlyn's card in surprise, hands it back to her and gives Kaitlyn a mug of beer. Shane just stares in surprise. He stammers, "Wha- How?"  Kaitlyn laughs a bit. "My birthday is Summer 27, 1991." Shane gives her a once-over. "Bullshit." Kaitlyn smirks at the man and shows him her driver's license, and sure enough her birthday shows Summer 27, 1991. He hands her back the card with a dumbstruck look on his face. "You're a twenty-four year old and you look like a Yoba-damned teenager." Kaitlyn grins at him as she drinks a good portion of her beer. "Happens all the time."

Shane decides to get a better look at her due to this. Upon closer inspection, she does look a little older than a teenager, but still not her actual age. Her black wide-framed glasses hide some stress lines and bags under her eyes. Speaking of her eyes, her eyes are the color of milk chocolate and her eyelashes look longer than the average finger nail. There were also well hidden freckles on her face, they were super light, Shane would never have noticed them if it wasn't for the two facts that one, he was paying attention to her,  and two, the light of the saloon made her skin seem a tad bit darker. Her hair also showed a bit of color Shane never noticed before. While her hair is primarily brown, it seemed as though there were a few streaks of a darker shade of blonde as well, and it seems as though with her hair cut in that bob, her hair swoops upwards and in front of her.

Kaitlyn finishes drinking the rest of her beer when she notices that Shane has just been staring at her the whole time. "Umm... Shane? You ok? You seem to be zoning out." Shane stops staring at the girl and drinks the rest of his beer in one go. Shane gives a thumbs up to Emily who refills his drink before responding to her, "I'm fine. Just thinking..." Kaitlyn tilts her head at Shane. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you thinking about?" Shane comes up with one answer. "Questions." Kaitlyn's eyes sparkle, so the milk chocolate almost looks like caramel now. "Questions to whom?" Shane stares at his mug of beer. "A lot of people." Kaitlyn taps her fingers to the beat of the music playing in the saloon. She decides to bite the bullet. "Any questions for me?" Shane glances up from his mug to see the girl, correction, little _woman_ , staring at him expectantly. "Maybe a few..." Kaitlyn cheerfully replies back to him. "You can ask me any questions you have!" Shane decides to take a swig of his beer to calm his nerves of having to socialize more with the farm girl. "Alright uh... How about why the hell you actually want to talk to me?" Kaitlyn smiles at the man. "Because, Jas says your nice, and I want to see what Jas sees." Shane sighs, of course his young goddaughter wants to make him seem good. "Okay, next question. Why did you come to Pelican Town of all places?" Kaitlyn grins at the man. "Because my life in the city just made me feel miserable the whole time, and my grandfather gave me his deed to McCarthy farm. I wanted a chance to be able to have a lasting place in life, so I decided to quit my job at Joja and work at Grandpa's farm." Shane almost choked on his beer. "Wait, _you_ used to wrok at Joja!?" Kaitlyn chuckles nervously, "Yeah, I did... I didn't really like it though... I kept on searching for a job other than the Joja one I had, but I never could find anything... I'm glad I opened Grandpa's letter when I did." Shane takes another swig of his beer. "Alright, final question... Why did you play with Jas?" To Shane, this was the most important question he had for the farmer. Kaitlyn seemed to smile, but her eyes didn't sparkle. "I remember when I was Jas's age, there weren't really many people who wanted to play with me. Then there's that here, there isn't a lot of kids her age, and that you would be the only one available and willing to play with her besides Vincent. That was the first reason, the second was that Marnie asked me to."

Shane drank the last of his beer and decided it would be the last one at the saloon. Kaitlyn managed to wear him out with her answers to his questions. Before Shane could put his money to pay for his drinks on the table, Kaitlyn puts enough money for them both on the table. "Don't worry about it, I'll pay for it." Shane tries to stop her. "I can pay for it myself." Kaitlyn looks at him with a sassy expression. "I know you can, but I want to treat you since you had a shitty day at work." The swear takes Shane aback. He didn't expect the new farmer girl would swear. Ever. Shane stares her in the eye. "Even if I refuse more, you're not gonna change your mind, are you?" Kaitlyn giggles. "See, you're starting to know me!" Shane sighs and hesitantly opens the door to leave the saloon. Kaitlyn exits with him and opens her umbrella and tip toes as he walks on home. Shane glances at Kaitlyn. "You really are stubborn." Kaitlyn chirps in. "Yep! You are too though." Shane scoffs. They travel the rest of the way to the ranch in silence. Once they make it to the door, but before Shane can open it Kaitlyn speaks up, "Have a good night Shane!" Shane watches as Kaitlyn begins to leave. "Farm girl." Kaitlyn pauses and stares back at Shane. "Yes, Shane?" Shane gulps. "Thanks." Kaitlyn giggles and her eyes crinkle and sparkle at her smile. "Anytime Shane! See you tomorrow!" Kaitlyn then skips and starts to hum a song that Shane doesn't recognize, but it's familiar. As Shane enters the ranch house, Kaitlyn's humming turns to singing. 

_"Blackbird singing in the dead of night_

_Take these broken wings and learn to fly_

_All your life_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arise...~"_


	3. A Docking Encounter & The Egg Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaitlyn has managed to get a little closer to Shane by the eve of the Egg Festival, but they wouldn't exactly be called friends yet. One late night coming back from the mines and the abandoned community center, Kaitlyn decides to take the scenic route back home; however, she doesn't expect to see Shane out on the docks drinking beers. That's a thing Shane usually only does in his room and at the Saloon. Will the experience at the docks with the farm girl have him be a rotten egg for the Egg Festival? Time to find out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three is here! Glad you're enjoying this fanfiction! If there are questions on what the song from the last chapter was, it was "Blackbird" by The Beatles. Hope you enjoy the fanfiction! 
> 
>  
> 
> *REMINDER* I do not own Stardew Valley or any songs that are, and will be in this fanfiction.

Kaitlyn breathes a sigh of relief as she exits the mines. It's been almost ten days since the rainy day with Shane, and Kaitlyn had been doing her damn best to make him her friend. She recognizes that they're not quite their yet, but that they could be soon. Kaitlyn makes her way to the community center, another new thing as part of her daily life. When she first went inside the dilapidated building with Mayor Lewis and saw the Junimos for the first time, she swore they were some weird, little, apple people. Then she met the Wizard the next day, who gave her a potion to be able to understand the Junimos. While it did work, she thought for a moment that the Wizard put some drugs in that potion and she had just experienced what being high felt like. Needless to say, Kaitlyn didn't want to drink that potion anytime soon. 

Kaitlyn went inside the building and brought in the last thing she found for the spring foraging bundle, a leek, and placed it inside it's little cubby. She watched as a little green Junimo scurried off with the bundle and left some seed packets on the ground. When Kaitlyn went to give the seed packets back to the little guy, or was it a girl? Either way, when she tried to give them back, the Junimo shook his whole body as if to say, "No you keep them." Kaitlyn nods and puts them in her backpack before leaving the community center. The young woman could see why her Grandpa loved it in Pelican Town, whether it be nature or people, the place is really welcoming. For the most part anyways. She goes back outside and thinks about which way to go home before deciding on the scenic route through Cindersap Woods. She strolls down the dark cobble road in the direction of the woods and the ranch, she can't help but think of Shane, Marnie, and Jas. The three are the people Kaitlyn considers to be the closest with in town. Marnie is extremely kind to her, Jas is fun to play with, and then there's Shane... Out of everyone in town, Kaitlyn finds Shane to be the most believable townsperson here. He's the one who reminds her that this isn't a dream, that she's in a good place with good people. Even though technically, he never actually says that, Kaitlyn can just feel it somehow. 

While Kaitlyn takes in the beauty of the forest, she's surprised to see a light coming from the dock. While curiosity killed the cat, Kaitlyn was always the type of person to disregard that phrase. She gets closer to the dock and the outline of Shane's shadow and the shadows of several beer cans stretch along the dock thanks to the light of a lantern. Kaitlyn starts walking up to Shane and sees he's holding another beer can. When he finally hears the footsteps on the dock he turns around to see the little farmer. "Hey. Up late, huh?" Kaitlyn nods and decides to sit down next to Shane, and he gazes back down to his beer can. He swallows the lump in his throat from the fact that he has to talk to someone again. Kaitlyn has been kind enough to him that Shane goes back and forth between giving her a cold one or not. _Fuck it._ He puts down his beer and takes out the last beer from the six-pack. He hands it to her, "Here, have a cold one." Shane thinks about the somewhat loud buzzing in his head. The fact that he's getting drunk around the new girl upsets him for some reason, but he's not exactly sure why. Kaitlyn takes the beer from his, in his perspective, pudgy hand and smiles gently at him. "Thanks." 

That smile had made Shane feel happy for a moment before his self-loathing thoughts kicked his metaphorical ass. _She's gonna see you for who you really are, a fuck-up. You don't deserve her kindness, all you do is drink and screw shit up. You're never gonna be able to be someone like her, or anyone else in this fucking town for that matter._ He doesn't know why the next two words come out of his mouth. "Buh... Life." Shane takes a sip of his nearly empty beer can. "You ever feel like... no matter what you do, you're gonna fail? Like you're stuck in some miserable abyss and you're so deep you can't see the light of day?" _Great you dumbass, now you're gonna make her freak out. She probably hasn't felt that way, she's almost like a child she's so happy all the time._ "I used to a lot before I came here, I still sometimes do, but not nearly as often." While the surprise doesn't catch Shane's entire face, his mouth opens slightly. He never would've thought that the girl who smiles so often, would ever feel the same way he's feeling right now. He stares at his reflection in the water. Just a big bag of flesh, and like an old, sick dog, waiting to be taken out to the backyard and shot through the back of his head, so he couldn't feel anymore pain. He sighs. "I just feel like no matter how hard I try... I'm not strong enough to climb out of that hole." Kaitlyn turns towards the man with a small frown, but when Shane looks into her eyes, he sees no hatred, frustration, or pity. All he sees is concern. Kaitlyn takes a gulp to swallow the lump in her throat. "Sometimes I feel like that too, but then I remind myself that even if I'm not strong enough now, I will be strong enough. It takes mental endurance." 

Both Shane and Kaitlyn don't know what to say as those sentences dangle in the air. After a moment of silence, Kaitlyn decides to try to do what Shane does sometimes whenever he drinks. She chugs the whole thing down in one go. Afterwards, her head throbs a little, but not overbearingly. Shane makes a little chortle. "Heh... Fast drinker, huh? Woman after my own heart." Kaitlyn is glad that the lantern is closer to Shane than to her. Kaitlyn always did get flustered easily whenever someone made a flirtatious remark or complimented her. Even if they were a little drunk. Shane's slightly gravelly voice cuts through the air. "Just don't make it a habit... you got a future ahead of you still." Kaitlyn gives a small smile to Shane as she taps the part of the dock near him to get his attention. He turns his head towards her, and her voice is but a whisper. "You too Shane." The buzzing in his head started to finally overwhelm him. He gets up and can hear some of his bones crack. _Damn, I'm getting old..._ He starts picking up some of the empty cans. "Welp… My liver's beggin' me to stop. Better call it a night." As he reaches for the last empty can, that's his, Kaitlyn also reaches out for it and grabs it, causing their hands to brush slightly. Shane's hands backs away instantly and then Kaitlyn hands him the empty can as she stood up. "Alright. Good night Shane." Shane takes the can from her. "Uh... thanks. Night." Kaitlyn bounces away humming another tune. Whenever she leaves since that rainy day, he can't help but notice she's always humming when she goes away from him. He sighs as he takes his empty beer cans and his body back to the ranch. _I'm gonna have a_ bad _hangover tomorrow._

* * *

Kaitlyn heads to town for the Egg Festival in nicer and cleaner attire than she normally wears. She has on a navy blue, cold shoulder, bell sleeve shirt on with brown high-waisted shorts. She then wears navy blue knee high socks and brown, low, wedge-heeled penny loafers. She skips into town as she hums "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves. Once she stands before the entrance of the town, she stops skipping and humming, and actually walks into the town. As she crosses the threshold, she can't help but think of what Shane had said, probably drunk, last night. The sentence still runs through her mind. _Woman after my own heart._ But she shakes it from her mind for now, because there's food to eat and eggs to find! Kaitlyn scans across her area of sight to find the food table, which she does. She also sees Shane there, and their conversation from last night still echoes in her mind. She decides to quietly come up to him. "Good morning Shane." Shane turns and looks down at the tiny woman. He nods his head in acknowledgement. He doesn't want to talk to her, while the shitty hangover came, Shane still remembers what happened last night. Kaitlyn gently speaks to the man. "Did you sleep well?" Shane doesn't really like smile, so he's curt with his answer. "No." Kaitlyn frowns a bit before opening her mouth, but she's interrupted by Shane. "Listen, about last night... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have rambled to you about stuff like that." Kaitlyn stares up at the man with a gentle expression on her face. "You shouldn't be sorry about that. Sometimes people need to vent their problems to others."

She gives Shane a gentle smile before filling up a cup of punch for herself. "Anyways, today isn't about feeling bad about something you said or did. It's about eating delicious food and having an egg hunt." Kaitlyn adds a wink to her statement which makes the corners of Shane's mouth turn upwards. "Yeah, but don't forget about the chickens. They worked hard to produce the eggs, it's why they deserve the best feed tonight. Sweet yellow corn." Shane now has a full blown smile and Kaitlyn couldn't help but be entranced by it. But soon after, his smile faded. _He should smile more often, he looks more handsome that way._ "Alright it's time for the egg hunt to begin!" Kaitlyn beams that the egg hunt is about to begin that she quickly drinks her punch and goes over to where all the participants are. Seeing her react that way made Shane chuckle quietly to himself. "Well isn't she excited..." He then watches over his goddaughter. Her exuberance could rival that of Abigail's and Kaitlyn's. Soon the egg hunt started and it was clear the competition was his goddaughter, Abigail, and Kaitlyn. Once the time ran out, all the participants went back over to where Lewis was. "The winner of the egg hunt is... Abigail!" No surprise there, but there were still cheers, whoops, and hollers. 

Jas seemed a little down about not winning, but Kaitlyn helped cheer her up by whispering something in her ear. After that, Jas runs to Shane and hugs his right leg. "Uncle Shane! Uncle Shane! Guess what!" Shane smiles at his goddaughter as he gives her a small hug back. "What?" Jas smiled her bright smile. "I might not have won the prize for the egg hunt, but I have better prize!" Shane gives her questioning look. "What's the better prize?" Jas giggles and gives her godfather a kiss on the nose. "You, silly!" Shane's surprise takes over his face for a moment before smiling gently at Jas. Jas smiled back at him. "I love you Uncle Shane!" "I love you too Jas." The godfather and goddaughter share an embrace as the farm girl glances at them while smiling. _He's a good man._


	4. Bottles Can Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a few days since the Egg Festival and Kaitlyn hasn’t seen Shane in a while. Then at night, she finds him in the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t owe Stardew Valley or any songs

Kaitlyn’s POV

 

 

It’s been a few days since the Egg Festival and I haven’t seen Shane in a while. I wonder how he’s doing? I pick some blue jazz and tulips when my new cat, Ginny, strolls on over to me and rubs herself on my side. I giggle and pet her as she purrs. “Hi baby, did you want to spend some time with me?”

 

Ginny then walks off just as I was about to pet her again. I sigh, “A fickle lady, I see. Just like Fortune is to me...”

 

I finish picking the blue jazz and tulips and put a few in the shipment box, and a few in my vase inside the farmhouse. I take the rest and make a nice flower arrangement of the two different types of flowers before taking them to Marnie’s. She’s always done such nice things for me, so I hope she likes it.

 

I walk through Cindersnap Forest and close my eyes while I listen to the birds chirping. I make it to Marnie’s and knock on the door before hearing Marnie shout, “Come in!”

 

I open the door and see Marnie and she comes up to me. “Ah, why if it isn’t Kaitlyn! Good morning sweetheart! How are you doing?”

 

I smile at the sweet woman. “I’m doing well Marnie, my blue jazz and tulips just finished growing and I thought you might like this.” I hold out the flower arrangement. “I wanted to thank you for all you’ve done for me since I came here. I really owe a lot to you, but I thought this could be a start.”

 

Marnie smiles. “Aw! You didn’t have to give me anything, no thanks needed! But this is lovely, thank you so much sweetie! I’ll put this in a vase!”

 

Marnie takes the flowers, and goes off somewhere and I see Shane come from around the same corner Marnie just walked from. He gazes at something behind him before staring back at me. “You gave Marnie the flowers?” I nod to him. Shane stares back behind him. “I’m not a big flower person, but they look good.”

 

I smile. “Thank you Shane!” Shane nods before checking the clock. “I gotta go or I’m gonna be late. See ya.” I don’t know exactly why, but I feel sad that he has to leave so soon. “O-Okay, see ya later Shane!”

 

Shane walks out of the house and Marnie comes back to the front of the house. “Thank you for the gift sweetie! I have to finish getting ready for the shop today.” “Okay I’ll see you later than Marnie!” “Bye Kaitlyn! Have a nice day!” “You too Marnie!”

 

——————————————————————————————————————————

 

For the rest of the day, I went to the mines, and while I made it out, I got a nasty cut on my left arm. Thankfully it’s really late so most people aren’t up and about. I walk through the trees of Cindersnap forest, trying to make sure no one can see me when I hear something. I search for the sound and I begin to hear it clearer, it sounds like someone crying. I hope Jas didn’t get lost out here. I finally find where the sobbing is coming from, but it wasn’t Jas. It was Shane. He sat behind a tree, facing away from Marnie’s ranch with a can of beer in hand, and a few more littered about. Shane must be having one of the hole moments. I’ve never been good at understanding at how I should feel. But I want to do what I think is right. So I approach him, slowly and his gaze is fixated on his hands and lap. I kneel down in front of him. “Shane?”

This startles him, and he freezes. “Leave me alone.” He starts to shake and he grits his teeth. “Shane, I know I’m new and still kind of a stranger, but I don’t want to leave you alone when you’re crying.”

 

Shane continues to shake and his voice crackles. “I don’t want your pity.”

 

I have an urge to hold him, tell him he’ll be okay. But I know him and he wouldn’t like that, instead I move a bit closer and try to get him to look at me. “I’m not pitying you, I’m concerned about why my friend is upset.”

 

Friend. Does Shane consider me his friend? I know I consider him as mine, but I’m not sure if he feels the same. I finally see his face, red and tear-stained, and tears still flowing as he bites his lip to try and stop his sobbing. That’s what gets me the most, I know how it feels to not be able to express your emotions, to hold them back; but it always back fires. “Shane, please don’t hold back tears because I’m here. While I want you to be your usual self, I can’t and don’t and won’t let you hold your emotions back. Do you want to let it out? Go on and let it out if you do.”

 

Shane stares at me as if he’s confused, he stares at me for a little bit before he finally looks back down. He finally lets out his sobs again. He shakes and I resist the urge to hug him because I know he values personal space, but I do pat him on the back and rub his back a bit. He starts coughing and sputtering before he leans back against the tree his eyes look glassy and dark. He’s breathing heavily and he finally says, “Why? Why do you care so much? I’m not worth it.”

 

He rubs his hands into his face and he finally looks down at me and his eyes widen. That’s when I realize I totally forgot about my cut up arm, and that I was trying to be sneaky about it. Well, friends are more important. He stares at my arm some more before he looks up. “Doesn’t that hurt?” I shrug. “A little bit. But I’m more worried about you. Are you feeling a bit better now?”

 

Shane sighs, “My liver says no. My mind is still fucked up, but I am kind of glad that I let that out.” I smile at him sadly. “Well, while I still want to know what happened, I’ll ask tomorrow, I’ll meet you at the saloon. Do you want to go home right now, or wait a little longer?”

 

Shane falls his gaze to the beer he let fall from his hand when I made myself present. “Do... Do you mind if we stay here longer?” I shake my head.

 

His breathing starts to become lighter than it was, although he’s still shaken up. He puts himself in a fetal position and shoves his head behind his arms. He starts to shake less and then he speaks up again. “You said you were my friend.”

 

Oh no. Am I in trouble? I’m probably in trouble. He doesn’t see me as a friend. This was a horrible idea. Fuck, I’m stupid. Fuck, fuck! “Yes, I did. Do you not see me as a friend?” He breathes in and breathes out before placing his head on his arms instead. “It’s not that, I just... I’m not used to having friends. But if I were to be friends with anyone in this happy-go-fucking-lucky town, it would be you. So I’m glad you see me as a friend.”

 

Oh thank Yoba! I smile at him. He sees me smile and he makes a face like he’s seen something surprising. “Umm... Shane, are you okay?” He snaps out of whatever daze he was in. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine. I’m gonna go home.” He rushes to grab the cans and I reach my hand to grab one and he reaches for the same can and our hands brush against each other. His hand yeets itself back. I grab the can and hand it to him. “Here. I’ll walk you home.”

 

He nods and we walk to the ranch. I see him glance at me from time to time and I wonder what’s going on inside his head. “You’re not humming this time.” That startles me, but he’s right. “You’re right, I’m not. Do you want me to?” He snorts. “Sure.”

 

I smile, and then I start humming “Porcelain Face” by 4 Door Theatre. We make it to Marnie’s and Shane stops at the door. He turns to me, “Hey Kaitlyn?” “Yes Shane?” “Thanks... For what you did back there. Hope your arm feels better.”

 

I smile back at him. “Anytime Shane, and thank you.” He goes into the house and I walk back home. I stare at the cut and I see the small and large scars I have on my arms and hands over the years. I sigh, remembering how some of those got there. I start singing and crying as I head home, recalling those memories.

 

“ _They call me the kid with the cardboard face. Pencil a smile or frown and then erase. Make me a monster with paper mache. I’m the kid with the cardboard face. I drew on a hat with some black sunglasses. A girl took my shades and she sharpied eyelashes. A boy stole my snapback and burned my hair straight. I’m the kid with the cardboard face_.”


End file.
